>Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2003 20:58:04 -0700
>From: Nick Moffitt <nick@zork.net>
>>[SNIP]
>> Given the sheer size of the Linux kernel, even if you omit the
>vast amount of the code which exists in device drivers, what is the
>probability that you'll find some few hundred lines of code peppered
>about the thing that look like any other C project. . . .
>>> Now imagine that you're comparing two posix operating systems.
>Who here expects that you *won't* find somewhere under a KLOC of
>matching code?
>[snip]
Remember also that there is a path from the AT&T code through BSD into
Linux. Anything that comes via that path is clean because of the AT&T/BSD
lawsuit. I know that considerable BSD device driver code was copied to
Linux. I haven't looked at other portions of the kernel, but just because
there is old AT&T code in Linux doesn't mean anyone's copyrights (or
contracts) were violated. So even if the code is matching and came from
AT&T, it could still be legal.
Larry